1983-07-15 Char-Koosta News

              PABLO, MONTANA 59855 ISSN: 0528-8592
VOLUME 12 NUMBER 5 THE MONTH FOR CELEBRATION DANCES July 15, 1983
Indian water claims go to state courts
HELENA — Montana officials are jubilant over a U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday over a U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday that cleared the way for state courts to decide Indian water rights in Montana and 10 other states.
The court reinstated, 6-3, federal District Court decision in cases originated by federal authorities on behalf of Montana's Northern Cheyenne Tribe and Arizona's San Carlos Apache Tribe.
Council authorizes $100 August per capita
In the shortest per capita non-debate in recent memory, the Council voted July 1 to distribute a $100 payment in August
The two-minute decision came during the less-than-two-hours long July quarterly meeting in Pablo. Notified that the ledger sheet didn't show enough income to make a summer payment-the budget is"in the hole" by six digits, in fact-the Council decided to authorize a per capita distribution from the Tribes' reserve account.
Natural Resources Department head Jim Paro, one of a handful of program managers in the sparsely populated quarterly audience, declared his intentions to return his check. It will join the money he returned in December of last year, making a balance of $200 in the voluntary economic development account
By Garry J. Moes Associated Press
On Feb. 22, 1982, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had overturned the District Court rulings and barred state courts from adjudicating Indian water claims.
The Supreme Court decision removes a major roadblock to a comprehensive approach to water-right adjudication mandated by the Montana Legislature in 1979.
The water adjudication program has proceeded despite the fact that the Indian question was pending before the nation's top court. The Montana Supreme Court on April 27, 1982, rejected a petition by the U.S. Department of Justice to halt proceedings until the appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was decided.
"Although adjudication of (Indian) rights in federal court. might in the abstract be practical, and even wise, it will be
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District Meeting
There, will be a district meeting sponsored by Arlee, St. Ignatiusr and Dixon districts July 20, 1983. It will be held at the Arlee Senior Citizen's Center at 6:30 p.m. and there will be a dinner served.
Please plan to attend and be updated on what your Tribes' are doing in all areas of economic, health, recreational, and mineral development